Michael Yaszemski, MD, PhD

Michael Yaszemski, MD, PhD

Michael Yaszemski, MD, PhD

Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering and director Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory at Mayo Clinic

Dr. Michael J. Yaszemski is the Krehbiel Family Endowed Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the Mayo Clinic and director of its Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory. He is a retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General and served in the office of the Air Force Surgeon General and the office of the President of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences prior to retiring in 2013. He previously served as president of the Mayo Clinic medical staff, and had served for 10 years as the Chair of the Spine Surgery Division of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Mayo Clinic Rochester prior to entering the presidential line. He received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University in 1977 and 1978, an M.D. from Georgetown University in 1983 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995.  He organized and then served as the first Chair of the Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering study section at NIH, and served as a member of the Advisory Council of the NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. He is currently a member of the NIH Advisory Council of the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases. He served as Chair of the FDA Center for Devices and Radiologic Health Advisory Committee, and is currently a member of the FDA Science Board. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors. He has 84 issued patents and 24 additional patents pending. He is an emeritus member of the Lehigh University Board of Trustees.  His clinical practice encompasses spine surgery and musculoskeletal oncology. His research interests are in the synthesis and characterization of novel degradable polymers for use in bone regeneration, cartilage regeneration, nervous tissue regeneration, and controlled delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to musculoskeletal tumors.